Sundance Daze

Well, I lied in my last entry. I ended up seeing In Bruges last night and I have to say I was a bit perplexed. No matter what you think of the film, it seemed like a very curious opening night choice. The performances were nice (Colin Farrel, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes) and it was wonderful to see the great Belgium city of Bruges on screen, but the plot was a retread, the characters were half-baked and only one out of every 10 jokes worked for me. However, there were some in the audience who did enjoy the film (judging by laughter), but everyone I talked with agreed that it was curious opening night choice for the festival. With no tie to the spirit or mission of the festival, several gruesome deaths, and more than a few off-color jokes (I am sorry, but midget jokes only go so far), its nice to know that festival as large as Sundance struggles with finding the right film for its opening night slot.

So far today, three films in, I have fared much better...

The captivating documentary Stranded, the survival story of the 1972 Rugby team whose plane crashed; The Visitor, the taut and sophisticated sophomore effort from Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent); and Traces of the Trade, the timely and personal documentary following ancestors of a family involved in the slave trade.

As I have thus far been tucked away at the industry screenings, no celebrity stories just yet.

By far the most important news of the day is that my phone works again!

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